Jools

A few bugs slipped into RetroPie 3.8 – most notably the launch commandline for DOSBox/RPIx86 was wrong, causing it to not work when launching DOS games directly from Emulation Station. There was also a problem building the gamecon gpio driver. These issues have been fixed, along with some other changes.

NOTE: There are currently problems with the XBox/XBox 360 controller driver xboxdrv caused by a Raspbian kernel update. This can be worked around by rolling back the Kernel. More details can be found on the forum.

The 3.8 image includes an important firmware/driver update to fix bluetooth lockups on the Raspberry Pi 3. Also included in the 3.8 update are an improved SDL1 dispmanx backend, updates to many of the included emulators, and enhancements to the splashscreen module.

If you upgrading an older image and are using the Raspberry Pi 3 onboard Bluetooth, you should go to the Bluetooth configuration from the RetroPie-Setup script, which will make sure you have the raspberrypi-sys-mods package installed which is needed by the Bluetooth driver. If it asks you anything about the /etc/udev/rules.d/99-com.rules configuration file, type Y to overwrite.

Changes since 3.7:

New SDL1 dispmanx backend from Vanfanel with triple buffering which should solve some of the performance issues with the previous code. Also some additional changes are included so you can adjust the aspect ratio with env variable SDL_DISPMANX_RATIO (eg 1.33 for 4:3). The aspect ratio will be ignored if SDL_DISPMANX_IGNORE_RATIO is set and SDL1 apps will display full screen. Vice is now set to use 4:3 ratio on the Raspberry Pi.

Many experimental modules have been added. An option was added to easily install the LXDE desktop environment onto the pi (which can be launched from the ports menu after install), and thanks to the work of Pipplware we have been able to finally include joypad support with Kodi (controller configurations for kodi still need to be done manually for now) . We also have improvements to the configuration editor, and updates to some emulators.

Please note that configuration locations for ports have moved to /opt/retropie/configs/ports – if upgrading via the RetroPie-Setup script, old configurations will be moved when doing a full binary install.

The default render resolution for libretro emulators is now the video output resolution on the RPI 2/3. This can be lowered via the runcommand launch menu, or set globally via the configuration editor if needed for performance. Default render resolution is 640×480 for the RPI zero/1, but again can be switched globally, or on a per system basis.

The “Direct Launch” functionality was removed from Emulation Station due to stability issues – Kodi will appear in “Ports” if installing from the experimental menu.

This version is released a little earlier than originally planned, due to the release of the fantastic Raspberry Pi 3 – which our previous 3.5 will not boot on due to having out of date firmware. Along with Raspberry Pi 3 compatibility this release brings a bunch of interesting experimental emulators such as Daphne for emulation of classic LaserDisc arcade games, a myriad of libretro cores, and a few game engines. We’ve also worked around the pesky insert coin bug that has plagued the arcade emulators.

We are pleased to announce the release of RetroPie 3.5. After taking into consideration the feedback from the vibrant RetroPie community, we have provided a few more functions to simplify the user experience such as automatic expansion of the filesystem on boot, less terminal text, and more configuration options for the runcommand launch menu. We have also fixed up some bugs with Raspbian Jessie such as the USB ROM service and have added two new experimental modules – the Löve game engine and a ColecoVision emulator (CoolCV).

Improvements to the Runcommand Launch Menu: Cleaner dialog on launch, ability to show game artwork on launch, ability to disable joystick support as well as the ability to disable the entire runcommand launch menu.

The Raspberry Pi show The Pi Podcast did an interview with me and two other members of the RetroPie team for Episode #13. Big thanks to them for inviting us on the show.

I was a little nervous before the interview, but it turned out fine – they did some good editing 🙂

If you own a Raspberry Pi or are thinking of getting one, then you should definitely check it out. They release a new show roughly every two weeks, with Raspberry Pi related news, chat and interesting interviews. It is professionally produced, and hosted by three knowledgeable and friendly Raspberry Pi enthusiasts.

Mostly fixes and improvements rather than new stuff this time folks. There were some problems with our RetroArch configuration defaults in RetroPie 3.3 which should be sorted now, and we have fixed up a few things that didn’t work correctly with Raspbian Jessie. We also have added early support for using the RetroPie-Setup script on a X86/X11 desktop setup, as well as some basic support for building EmulationStation & RetroArch + cores on the ODroid-C1. For more information regarding installation on x86 see https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/RetroPie-Ubuntu-15.10-x86-Flavor.

Changes since 3.3:

Fixes for controller input issues with RetroArch including improved config generation to work around problems with 8bitdo controllers.

Fixed up Bluetooth pairing module on Jessie.

Improvements to the Xbox userspace driver (xboxdrv) including partial support of Xbox One controller.

Can now choose to exit or restart Emulation Station. Metadata will no longer be lost if choosing to shutdown or reboot.

Preliminary support for using the RetroPie-Setup script on x86 + X11 on Debian/Ubuntu and Ubuntu on the Odroid-C1 (building from source only).

$HOME/.emulationstation has relocated to /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation – but is symlinked from the original location. The USB Rom Service script will backup all of /opt/retropie/configs to USB. Previously it only backed up /$HOME/.emulationstation.

Support for choosing RetroArch shaders and overlays from the RetroPie-Setup configuration editor.

After 2 months of work, RetroPie v3.3 has been released. Highlights include beta images built on Raspbian Jessie for beta testing, PlayStation Portable and Dreamcast emulators moved out of experimental, and improved controller configurations including automatic control set up for Mupen64plus and Reicast.

Changes since 3.2.1:

Mupen64plus controller configs (including hotkeys) and Reicast (Dreamcast) controller configs added to the autoconfiguration script in emulationstation. Mupen64plus is now the default n64 emulator due to compatibility.

AdvanceMAME 1.4 (replaces 1.2 – still based on MAME 0.106).

PlayStation Portable emulator ppsspp is included by default (libretro version is default, the standalone version is optional).

Removed cpc4rpi emulator, and added CapriceRPI which has many improvements over cpc4rpi.

Updated libretro binaries including lr-fba-next updated to v0.2.97.37, and an improved lr-caprice32 which is now moved out of experimental and is the default Amstrad CPC emulator.

Updates to Reicast emulator, which has been moved out of experimental.

New experimental modules: OpenTTD (open source simulation game based on Transport Tycoon Deluxe), Wolf4SDL (Port of Wolfenstein 3d), Zdoom (Enhanced Port of the official DOOM source)

PS3 controller improvements (added Gasia PS3 clone Support).

Updated OpenMSX emulator (to the dev version 0.12.0+).

Beta images based on Raspbian Jessie are included. They may have bugs that are not present in the Raspbian Wheezy release.

New themes added to the theme installer (Eudora from AmadhiX, Tronkyfran from Tronkyfran, and Retroplay Canela from InsecureSpike).

RetroArch joy-config tool removed (custom configs are now done through the RGUI or manually).